Of All Which Is Evil...
by kitsune akai
Summary: i'm reposting this, with chapters this time, so it's not *quite* as intimidating...good, evil...i'd rate this between pg-13 and r...but - whatever...
1. Of All Which Is Evil... part I

Here, let me bring you up to date...  
  
  
Several years have passed since their Pokemon adventure.   
  
Brock is 18 and Misty will be 17 in the fall. They both attend the Pokemon University in the depths of Viridian Forest. The school teaches every known subject about Pokemon, but Brock and Misty only study the psychic ability, dreams and other nonsense that affects and works with the mind.   
  
Ash is 15 and left the group at Pallet Town, where he lives with his mom and works as an assistant for Professor Oak.   
  
Jesse and James are 20 and no longer work for Giovanni. There was a huge battle two and a half years ago when Jesse and James competed against Butch and Cassidy. Butch and Cassidy were losing, which they didn't do very well. They decided to use their Pokemon to attack Jesse and James. Well, our beloved two were beat up pretty badly and were, literally, kicked out of Team Rocket. Butch and Cassidy not only took over their places as Giovanni's right hand men, but they took the Meowth balloon and all of the Pokemon Jesse and James had ever owned.   
  
As Ash, Brock and Misty were saying their goodbyes in Viridian City they saw Jesse and James lying on the side of the road. They were covered in blood, their clothes were ripped, almost to the point of inappropriateness, and death lingered on their every breath. Brock and Misty ran to their side and took them to the Viridian Hospital with no help from Ash. He didn't want to help them because they had caused him so much trouble on his adventures. With that, Ash said a final goodbye and headed back to Pallet Town. After all of their wounds were more or less healed; Brock, Misty, Jesse and James started to head to their home towns, which meant going through Viridian Forest. They finally stumbled upon the Pokemon University after they'd been lost for several days. Brock and Misty enrolled in classes that studied the mind while Jesse and James enrolled in Pokemon Health and Medicine classes. They share a dorm that has a kitchen, bathroom, gigantic main room, one bedroom and two king sized beds.   
  
  
...it starts...  
  
****  
  
  
The assignment was simple.   
  
Get into a group of two.   
  
Partner #1 would reach into bag #1 and pull out a CD.   
  
Then partner #2 would reach into bag #2 and pull out a number. At the end of the day both would go to sleep and listen to that number on that CD repeatedly. In the morning they would record what kind of dreams they had and how they thought the song might have influenced those dreams.   
  
She went up and stuck her hand in bag #1 while her partner stuck his hand in bag #2.  
  
"The King and I. What's this?"  
  
"Ahhh, young sir what number did you pick for this beautiful masterpiece?" the teacher swooned.  
  
"Ummm, 18, ma'am."  
  
"Ah yes. The beautiful ballad called 'I Have Dreamed'. It's a love song that two beautiful, young lovers excha-"  
  
"Do you get the idea that she likes this song," he whispered sarcastically. She snickered into her hand while the teacher glared at him.  
  
"Just for that young sir, you and your lovely partner shall come in tomorrow at 2:30 sharp. It will be just like *your* normal detention. You will stay until 6:00. Am I understood?"   
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
"Then on Monday you two will come in at 4:00 -"  
  
"But that's a half hour early!"  
  
"Fine, we'll make it 3:30 and you can leave at the normal time of 8:30." The teacher looked at the two, took her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose.  
  
"You two are not going to give me any more trouble or your punishments will be much worse than this, understand?"   
  
They nodded and nearly jumped out of their skin when the headmaster waltzed into the room. He stopped when he saw the small group's solemn expressions.  
  
"What are they up to this time?" He said as he dismissed the two troublemakers.  
  
"Nothing that I can't handle...so where are we going tonight?"  
  
"That's a surprise. Don't think that I'm the kind of person who gives up after three dates, no sir-ee."   
  
The door closed behind the students and they headed toward the dorms. The walk was very quiet and full of thought.   
  
"Stop that...stop, it tickles..."   
  
They paused at the edge of the field and watched some upper classmen attempt a simple game of tag that had transformed into a tickle war.   
  
He started toward the dorms again as she sighed and ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair. She caught up with him as they got to the elevator door inside the main entrance.   
  
"8th floor please," she told the man in the corner by the controls. She was humming something familiar and he stopped to stare.   
  
"Is that your original hair color?"   
  
The two looked at the strange man and waited for the door to open. She smiled meekly at the man as she left the elevator. She played with a strand of her fiery red hair as he fished for the keys in his bag. Something was blaring inside the room, but they couldn't make out what it was.   
  
/Is that your original hair color? HA! What was that about/ she thought as she entered the dorm.  
  
"OI! JESSE! JAMES! TURN IT DOWN!!"   
  
Jesse ran over and turned the music off while James disappeared into the kitchen with a squeak.   
  
"What's wrong, Misty?" James asked as he handed her a glass of ice water upon his return. She shooed it away with her hand and flopped down on the chair.   
  
"We have a stu-u-pid assignment and the teacher's really getting on my nerves," she grunted, pulling her vest off over her head and throwing her shoes on the floor.   
  
"Yeah, it's the same assignment we've had all week, and now we hafta serve a detention tomorrow. There isn't supposed to be school on Saturdays AND she's making us come in Monday. She's ruining our vacation," Brock whined as he walked out of the bedroom, tucking his orange shirt into his blue jeans.  
  
"Hmmmm...I thought we got rid of that shirt," Jesse said dryly. Her eyes were fixed on the infamous shirt as if ice spears were about to shoot from them.   
  
"I thought we did too," James agreed with the same tone to his voice, his eyebrow twitching slightly.   
  
/This is the perfect time to change out of my uniform. I just hope I can reach the bedroom before the battle begins/ Misty thought and slipped through the door right as they had backed Brock into a corner.   
  
"Whooo, that was close," she sighed and leaned against the closed door. She started humming the same song as before as she slid out of her skirt.   
  
/Let's freshen up/ she mentally suggested and unbuttoned her blouse, heading toward the bathroom. There was a long, silent pause that hung awkwardly after the door clicked shut and before she fell.  
  
****  
  
tbc  



	2. Of All Which Is Evil... part II

****  
  
"Ne, you guys get to keep your Team Rocket uniforms ...or what's left of them," Brock said, quickly covering his head to keep it from being too severely damaged as Jesse came at him, claws first.  
  
"Don't you dare bring that up!" she spat out as she hit him repeatedly, eventually causing him to sink to the floor. He was still clutching his head, of course.  
  
"Yeah, it's not our fault that we were better than they were," James started as he kept his distance from Jesse. "It's not our fault we were winning that fight. Then they cheated. *THEY* cheated!!! You aren't supposed to use Pokemon in a personal quarrel, it's not good for them ...we learned that today in class." Jesse stopped and stared at him.   
  
/Hopeless, he's simply brainless/ she inwardly sighed when she looked at James who stood there with eyes closed, arms folded, and a silly grin from ear to ear.   
  
"James, what was the point you were trying to make?"  
  
"Ja, just that...if I ever see -" He started confidently.  
  
"James, I'm warning you..." she cut in.  
  
"Nani? If I ever see Butch and Cassidy again I think - I think I'll kill `em."  
  
"ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Jesse screamed as she flew from Brock to James. Brock got up and raced for the bedroom. He made it before any of the beatings began, sat on his side of the bed and sighed.   
  
/They're better now, but…sometimes they can't help but revert to the ol' Jesse and James/ he thought, gently shaking his head. He got ready to lie down but stopped abruptly.  
  
"Where'd Misty go?" he asked the empty room, scanning it for her curvaceous form. He got up and knocked on the bathroom door. There was no answer. He opened it and jumped.  
  
"Mou," he muttered, picking her up from the floor. He carried her to the bed and finished undressing sleeping body. He pulled the teal comforter up to her chin and placed her uniform on the back of a chair. He took his journal out of the nightstand drawer that stood ajar. He gently sat on his side of the bed and began to write.  
  
  
Apr. 24  
Something's wrong with Misty. She's been exhausted this whole week. I don't know exactly what's wrong though. She doesn't have a fever. She isn't nauseous. She hasn't lost her appetite either. Maybe she's having nightmares? I don't know. We get back from class and Jesse and James are back from their Pokemon Health and Medicine classes. She disappears to change, I can only guess because then I find her half undressed and asleep in the strangest places. Like today: I found her in the bathtub in her skivvies with one sock on and her blouse unbuttoned. I hope she isn't sick. It hurts me to see such a beautiful creature in so much pain. I'll talk to you later. It sounds like Jesse has stopped torturing James ...and I'm hungry.  
  
  
Brock put his journal away and headed out of the room, murmuring "food" under his breath. He opened the fridge and had just started to scan the food when he heard a soft whimper. He looked up and saw Misty, weeping on the couch. He went into the bedroom, skirted Jesse and James kissing on the floor, grabbed a robe and high-tailed it out of there. He put the robe around her shaking shoulders and held her until she drifted into another restless sleep.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	3. Of All Which Is Evil... part III

****  
  
"They're three hours late, where could they be?" Ash wondered. He looked up from his watch and saw Jesse and James resting against the Viridian City sign. As he walked over to ask about Brock and Misty, he saw them look around nervously.   
  
This was obviously not their favorite place to be.   
  
They informed him that Brock and Misty had to meet with their teacher for a while and that they maybe had an hour left. Jesse told him that they would be at Cinnabar Island for spring vacation. They wished each other a good time and headed off in different directions.   
  
Ash sighed as he passed the Viridian Forest sign. It would take him a good half hour to get to the hidden school. He remembered back when they found Jesse and James close to death right next to the sign where they'd stopped to rest. He didn't want to help them then but he regretted it now. Turns out they were the nicest people ever.   
  
Ash stopped and gazed up at the school.   
  
/Only in Viridian Forest could there be a hidden school this big/ he thought. He'd been to the campus before, several times in fact. He even had his own key to the dorm. It had been a while since he had last visited though, and he was use to the small buildings of Pallet.   
He got off the elevator at the eighth floor and glanced at his watch.   
  
"I guess Brock and Misty still have about another half hour left," he quietly thought aloud. He didn't even bother to knock and he his key into the lock.  
  
He closed the door behind him, threw his bag on the couch and barely held in a high-pitched scream when he heard it yelp "itai!" Misty sat up and looked around as she rubbed her head.  
  
"Ash? Nani..." Misty said groggily. "ASH!" She jumped up and glomped him.   
  
"What's all the fuss about?" Brock asked, strolling out of the bedroom, just beginning to pull on a green shirt. He saw Ash, ran across the small room and gave him an equally big hug, dropping his shirt in the process.  
  
"Are you hungry? Are you tired? You must be tired, you walked all that way. I'll go get you someth-"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, Brock. Slow down. I'm not tired at all," he said as he retrieved Brock's shirt for him. "I am a bit hungry though." That was all Brock needed to hear. He took his shirt and disappeared into the kitchen.   
  
"So, Misty...daijobu desu ka?" Ash asked, looking her over. He concluded to himself that she looked a little pale and probably wasn't in the best of health.  
  
"Iie, everything's wrong!" she sighed as she flopped down on the couch. Ash took the seat next to her on the old, lime green couch. The same old ratty thing that folded out and formed the bed he slept on whenever he visited. No one really knew how old the couch really was.  
  
He leaned back and remembered how he and Misty would fight almost every time they spoke to each other. They hadn't always been the best of friends. That was all past them now and he looked up to and admired her. Sort of like a big sister.  
  
"You remember how my sisters acted toward me when you went to battle for the Cascade Badge?"   
  
Misty's eyes started to water and she fidgeted with the belt of Brock's robe, which hung loosely over her shoulders. He nodded and handed her his handkerchief.  
  
"They still can't get it through their thick makeup that I'm just as good as them. I left Cerulean a long time ago because I stopped trying to make them accept me, *or* my talents. That's when you stole my bike in Viridian," she said, wiping her eyes and then proceeding to blow her nose. "As a matter of fact, you've never paid me back." The strength was back in her voice.  
  
"Uh, ja ...umm -" Ash started, looking around for an excuse.  
  
"Food's ready," Brock announced as he placed the last plate on the table. Ash leapt from the couch immediately at the sight of it. Misty wiped her eyes and decided against blowing her nose as she sat down at the table.  
  
"How ya feeling now, Misty?" Brock asked. "You still look awfully pale, like your energies being drained or something." Misty didn't look up, instead she wiped her eyes again.  
  
BBBBRRRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!!!  
  
"I'll get it," Misty sighed as she sluggishly got up and answered the phone.  
  
"Konnichi wa? Nani?! Uh ...um..."   
  
Brock looked up from his dinner and saw Misty shaking and looking paler than snow. He got up slowly and started to walk toward her. Ash saw Brock get up and followed him with his eyes. He dropped his fork and stopped everything, just gawking at Brock holding a sobbing Misty. By this time she had dropped the phone and it produced nothing but a dial tone. Brock picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.  
  
"I think she'll be okay, she just needs to rest now," Brock said, quietly shutting the door behind him. "She's been like this all week. Every now and then she has a fainting spell and she looks like - you saw the way she looked!" Ash nodded and slowly turned his gaze up to Brock.  
  
"You sure she'll be okay?" Ash asked. Brock just shrugged as he sat down and slowly finished his dinner, a look of confusion and contemplation plastered across his face. Ash just sat there staring at the phone.  
  
****  
  
Brock stood in his maroon boxers, holding the frying pan high over his head.   
  
/Whoever it is won't be expecting this/ he thought, glancing at Misty perched on the other side of the door. The moon shone through the window and made her body glow with a silvery blue tint. It streaked all the way down her back and outlined her gentle curves, making her orange thong glow a fiery red. He was never able to understand how she could wear something like that.   
  
She held her weapon of choice in one hand while she fixed her tight half tank. He flashed his gaze toward the couch.   
  
Ash was sound asleep.  
  
They had both awakened when they heard someone trying to open the front door. Brock had jumped out of bed quietly, trying not to wake Misty. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed his trusty frying pan. He made his way to the front door only to meet Misty there. She was armed with her copy of War and Peace.  
  
"Brock, this is insane. We've been here for 45 minutes and nothing's happened," Misty complained quietly, relaxing a bit from her butt-kicking pose.   
  
"Yeah, you're right," he replayed. "Let's go to bed. Tomorrow's Monday, which means detention and it starts earlier than usual." With that they headed back to the bedroom. Right as that door closed, Jesse and James came staggering through the front door. They had just awakened from their little nap in the hall.   
  
"Whoa, James...weez gotsta lay off -hick- zee alcihol," Jesse murmured as she rubbed her forehead.  
  
"Jesse? Let's just go to sleep," James whined. With that they barely staggered into the bedroom and passed out before they reached the bed.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	4. Of All Which Is Evil... part IV

****  
  
*after school is out*  
  
  
"NANI!!!" Jesse screamed, hitting the phone on the counter.   
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!! Squirtle I choose you!" Ash cried and fell off the couch. Jesse hung up the phone, stifling a giggle.  
  
"Oh, did I wake you?" she sneered. "By the way, I didn't think those were made for people your age." He could hear her laughing as she exited the petite place of residence.  
  
"Nani?" he asked. Misty came out of the bedroom, pulling a pair of boxers on, a yawn just escaping her lips. Brock was right behind her, stretching. Not three steps from the door, she stopped dead in her tracks, causing Brock to run into her. What she saw made her laugh so hard that she lost all sense of balance and fell to the floor.  
  
"Misty! What's wr-" Brock started, but when he looked at Ash his sense of balance soon left him and he joined Misty on the floor.  
  
"Nani?!" Ash asked.   
  
Finally Brock got up and helped Misty to her feet, their hysteria dying down to mere giggles.  
  
"Aren't you a little old to be wearing those?" Misty scoffed as Brock started to giggle once more. Ash looked down and instantly turned red.   
He looked back at Brock and Misty who were cackling and quickly grabbed his blanket. He was wearing his old, small and very tight, hot pink boxers that said 'I choose you!' and had little pictures of all the Pokemon all over them. They were a present from his mom when he got his Pokemon license on his tenth birthday.  
  
He sidestepped over to the other, smaller couch where his pants rested tauntingly. He glanced again at Brock and Misty, who were laughing so hard they were crying. He dropped his blanket, grabbed his pants and quickly put them on. His shirt followed soon after.   
  
He knew they would never let him live this down.   
  
****  
  
After an unsuccessful mission - Ash, Brock and Misty decided to head to the end of the lunch line.   
  
They had been lying on the field when they heard the lunch bell go off. The cafeteria was packed by the time they got there, but they searched for a table anyway.  
  
Needless to say, they failed in finding one.   
  
When they reached the cash register Brock and Misty whipped out their trusty Cafeteria cards while Ash pulled out a ten-dollar bill. He knew that the cost of lunch was very inexpensive, but it was the smallest bill he could find. The lunch lady slapped a five-dollar bill on the tray followed by nine coins that was the rest of his change and he left the line.   
  
Not two steps later, a couple of quarters decided to jump off the tray to their doom. Ash sighed, put the tray on the counter and kneeled to pick up the silver murder/suicide victims. He was knocked off balance when his forehead collided with a person kneeling in front of him. As he rubbed his head, a hand extended over him to help him up.   
  
"I believe this belongs to you."   
  
Ash took the quarter from the open palm. He muttered something and picked up his tray.  
  
"Gomen ...what was that?"   
  
Ash turned around with a snide remark ready, and stopped dead in his tracks.   
  
She was beautiful.   
  
She was his height with short, spiky, strawberry blonde hair. She wore a some-what tight dark green muscle shirt that had a big, loose turtleneck collar. Very comfy looking blue jeans clung to her long, slender legs and old, worn-out Doc. Martin's peeked from beneath them.   
She smiled at him, but her eyes didn't reflect it. Her gorgeous sapphire blue eyes seemed to hold only true evil and pure malice. He wondered about it for just a moment longer before shrugging it off as a result of all the horror books he'd been reading lately and returned her smile.  
  
"My name's Taiteki," she said, holding out her hand.  
  
"I-I'm Ash. Arigatou," he stammered.  
  
"Arigatou…?"  
  
"The quarter thing...yeah," he said as he stared at the floor and turned an all-telling hue of red.  
  
"Ash, come on, we're waiting," Misty called across the cafeteria. The smile faded on Taiteki's face when she saw Misty. Hatred's blue flames flared in her eyes, but diminished when Ash turned and smiled at her once more.   
  
"Oh, that's Misty. She's an old friend ...ahhhh, do you, maybe ...want to eat with us?"  
  
"I'd love to, but -"  
  
"ASH!"   
  
He turned in time to see Misty stomp out of the cafeteria, Brock nipping at her heels.  
  
"...but, I've already made plans to eat lunch with some old friends," she said as she played with her short hair. Ash tried to keep a cheerful face but he was truly disappointed.   
  
"Are you going to the Summer Carnival tonight?"   
  
He looked up at her, a sparkle of hope gleaming in dark eyes.  
  
"Yeah, sure…why not."  
  
"I've gotta go," she said as she looked behind her at her waiting friends. "Meet me at the library around 6:45, yosh?" Ash grinned and nodded and she turned toward her friends. She stopped in mid turn and looked back at him.  
  
"By the way," she said over her shoulder. "Bring your friends and I'll bring mine." She winked at him and started toward her group. A sly smirk made it's way across her face and her eyes flashed with dead life.   
  
/This will be a very interesting night/ she thought, closing the gap between her and her 'friends'   
  
Ash stood there for a second, completely stunned. Finally he picked up his tray and went in search of Brock and Misty. He couldn't help but smile at himself.   
  
He found them sitting awfully close on a blue bench by the pond.   
  
/They must be done with lunch. Why else would their trays be stacked like that?/ he thought as he sat on the grass and leaned against a tree behind the bench. He didn't want to disturb them.   
  
After Ash had been eating for a while he glanced at them. He stopped chewing and watched Brock stretch, casually placing his arm around Misty's shoulder.   
  
/Smooth, very smooth…baka/ he thought, rolling his eyes. He waited anxiously for her hand to swing up and lay a SMACK across Brock's face. However, much to Ash's astonishment, she sighed and rested her head against Brock's shoulder.   
  
Ash's jaw dropped to the ground. As he lifted it back into place and rubbed off the grass stains, he wondered what Taiteki was doing. He shivered when he pictured her dead eyes but immediately dismissed it.   
A wicked smirk appeared on his face as he thought about tonight's carnival - he couldn't wait.   
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	5. Of All Which Is Evil... part V

****  
  
/What's up with those two?/ Ash wondered as he glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time. It was 6:37 and Ash's palms were sweating so much that Taiteki would have to swim up to him. He looked at them again.  
  
"Man...Jesse and James are bad enough. Now *they* have to start at it too?" he whined. Brock held Misty's hand as he leaned down so she could whisper in his ear.   
  
/They may share a bed, but this is the first time I've seen them act like this/ he thought, shaking his head. He didn't mind that they giggled together or held hands. He just wasn't used to it.  
  
"K'so..." Brock breathed as his face turned different shades of red. Misty kept whispering in his ear and his eyes got as wide as they could get. Ash decided to mosey on over because he wanted to know what the juicy bit of info was.  
  
"Ash ...Oi! Ash!"   
  
He heard his name and, like the baka he was known to be, he turned in a complete circle before he saw the speaker. This caught Brock and Misty's attention. They stopped giggling and joined Ash and his guests.   
  
"These are my friends," Taiteki said before introducing them. "That's Martie, Jeff, TK, Todd and Ian." They all smiled as their names were called.  
  
"That's Brock and Misty. Oh, and I'm Ash," he said, taking a moment to present his friends.  
  
"Don't we get an introduction?"  
  
"Oh yeah...that's Jesse and James," Ash said 'enthusiastically', recognizing the voice immediately.   
  
"Aren't you from Team Rocket?" Martie asked, eyeing James like he was a piece of candy. Jesse saw this and practically blew a fuse.   
  
"We were too good for Team Rocket so -" Jesse started, stepping between Martie and James. She paused, not knowing how to finish the monster she'd created.  
  
"So *we* left *them*," James finished for her. An air of confidence beamed around him. Martie cooed and pushed past Jesse. She put her hand on his chest and sighed.   
  
"Wow, you must be *very*…'talented' then."   
  
Jesse was about to explode and attack the girl.   
  
/Who does that girl think she is?/ floated around Jesse's mind. The second she was about to start a war, James took Martie's hand off his chest and dropped it with a look of disgust.   
  
"Gomen nasai, but you're groping a married man," James said with a twinkle in his eye. Martie looked disappointed. She shrugged it off and pranced over to Todd, her loyal boyfriend. He crossed his arms and looked the other way when she rubbed up against him. Only when the wind lifted her short skirt did he decide that she was too 'precious' to lose.   
  
Jesse practically had a conniption.   
  
"Wh-wh-what did you s-say," she stuttered. James dropped to his knee and pulled a fancy little box from one of his khaki's pockets.  
  
"Heh heh heh heh," Jesse nervously giggled, then proceeded to fainted.  
  
"Misty, tell me the outcome later," Ash whispered in her ear. "We're going now. I'll be back before curfew." Misty nodded and she shoed him off with her hand - never taking her eyes off the unconscious redhead.  
  
Ash, Taiteki and co headed off into the midst of the carnival. As soon as they were a few booths in, the main group split. Ash and Taiteki headed down toward the Ferris Wheel. She entwined her arm around his and he blushed.   
  
/This is gonna rock/ he thought, his grin growing even bigger as they disappeared into the crowd.   
  
****  
  
"Where am I," Jesse said groggily.   
  
/Grass? Carnival Music? James, Misty, Brock? What's going on?/   
  
She saw the little velvet box in James' hand and tried to get up to jump in his arms.  
  
"Oh no you don't," Misty said, holding Jesse down.  
  
"You need to stay. We don't want you to hurt yourself if you faint again," Brock added. James nodded and Jesse lay back, closing her eyes.  
  
"You look beautiful with the grass and flowers in your hair," James said. Jesse smiled and gazed at him. Misty came over and gave both of them a hug. She walked back to Brock and they waved. As they left the happy couple, Brock put his arm around her shoulder.   
  
"Now there's a sight I never thought I'd see," James said and kneeled again. Jesse grinned and reached to fiddle with his hair. He blushed and a silly grin plastered itself onto his face.  
  
"Uh ...ja," he started, scratching his head. "I - ah...ai shiteru...yeah. I would've done this sooner but the whole Team Roc-"   
Jesse shushed him by placing her finger across his lips and smiling. His silly grin came back and he blushed once more.   
  
"Will you marry me?" James finally got out. Jesse eagerly flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.   
  
"Of course I will," she cooed and he put the ring on her finger. She hugged him and muttered something that sounded like 'Arigatou'. He placed her back on the grass and kissed her deeply.  
  
"James," she said as she looked around nervously. "Not in the middle of public!" James shrugged, picked her up and carried her toward the dorms. She giggled at his strength and was delighted at the looks they got from passers-by.   
  
****  
  
His fingers tugged at the button of her shorts and she kissed him. He gently positioned her on the blue park bench and smiled as her back arched against the cold metal. He brushed flaming hair out of aqua eyes. He unbuttoned her shirt, causing her to wince at the coldness of his hands. She took off his orange shirt - she really thought they had thrown it away. She then unhooked her brock…  
  
"Brock? Brock - daijobu desu ka? Your nose is bleeding," Misty asked, snapping him back to reality. He pinched his nose closed and blushed.   
There she sat.   
  
She had missed the last buttons of her aqua shirt causing her stomach to show. Her short shorts were exactly that: very short. They succeeded in covering nothing except the extremely important parts as she sat Indian style on the bench, facing him.   
  
He felt ashamed.   
  
There she was - so beautiful, sitting across from him...and here he sat - in his old orange shirt, brown cords and green vest, taking advantage of her in his mind.   
  
He needed to tell her. She needed to know how much she meant to him. How deep his love for her was. That it wasn't her pretty face or stellar body that caused him to love her. Or the fact that they shared a bed and she slept in her skivvies ...although those helped. He loved her for her, not anything else and it had taken him three years to realize it himself.  
  
"Konnichi wa? Are you in there?" Misty asked. Worry stitched itself to her voice and she waved her hand in front of her face.  
  
"Oh…gomen," Brock said with a start. This time he came back to reality and stayed.  
  
"Misty, I've got to tell you something," he said as he turned toward her and held her hands. She bit her lower lip.   
  
/God, I love it when she does that/ he thought, melting on the spot into a puddle of liquid lust.   
  
"You mean a lot to m-" Brock started, but was cut off by a loud explosion.  
  
"What the hell was that," Misty murmured, not really expecting an answer. Fear streaked across her face and she practically jumped in his lap as a second explosion rang through the air.  
  
"I have no clue," Brock answered, equally scared.   
  
****  
  
"James...*JAMES*! What was that?" Jesse asked. He flung off the blanket, jumped up, grabbed his robe and headed to the window.  
  
"Whatever it was left part of the Ferris Wheel in flames," James said as Jesse joined his side, tying the belt to her robe.  
  
"I can tell you one thing though," he said looking back out the window.  
  
"What would that be?" she asked following his gaze.  
  
"It wasn't us this time," he said, turning to meet her glare.   
  
"WELL I KNOW THAT YOU BAKA!!!" Jesse yelled and she hit him repeatedly.  
  
****  
  
"Ash are you okay, you're pale as a ghost," Taiteki asked, trying not to smile.  
  
"Yeah, daijobu," he answered, never taking his eyes off of the approaching hot air balloon. "You find your friends and get far away from here ...hurry! Don't get hurt." She laughed a silent, evil laugh before she left to find her 'friends'.   
  
/I don't want to be around when they make their entrance/ she mentally noted and left. He watched her run toward the park on the other side of the carnival.  
  
"No one's gonna believe this," he muttered as he looked back and saw the hot air balloon land. Oddly enough, it looked like a giant Meowth.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	6. Of All Which Is Evil... part VI

****  
  
- prepare for trouble -  
- and make it double -  
- to infect the world with devastation -  
- to blight all people in every nation -  
- to denounce the goodness of truth and love -  
- to extend our wrath to the stars above -  
- Cassidy -  
- Butch -  
- we're Team Rocket, circling earth day and night -  
- surrender to us now or you'll surely lose the fight -  
- that's right -  
  
  
Ash couldn't believe his eyes as the Meowth balloon landed on top of the cotton candy both.   
  
He couldn't believe his ears either.   
  
All the times he had heard Jesse and James do their speech, one would think he would know it by heart. Now he was hearing different words and who the hell were Butch and Cassidy?   
  
/Are Jesse and James under cover again?/ ran through his brain.  
  
"HA, HA, HA...I betcha never thought you'd see us again Ashy-boy," one of the shadows said and tossed a smoke bomb to the ground. Everyone who hadn't cleared out already, ran away as fast as they could.   
  
Ash started coughing and collapsed into the arms of a very familiar and curvaceous figure. It started to drag him out of the smoke when another familiar figure came and grabbed his feet. Ash was very grateful when they were out of the smoke cloud.   
  
"Ash, are you okay? We ran over as soon as we heard," Brock stopped to catch his breath. Ash looked at Misty's expression and knew that they were truly worried about him.   
  
"I'm cough, cough, cough, HACK...cough..." Ash said, starting another round of coughing. "...daijobu." Brock and Misty exchanged a pitiful glance before they got ready to fight.  
  
"So, who are we up against?"   
  
The trio turned around and saw a sparkle of red and a dash of blue before the speaker was revealed.  
  
"Yeah, Jess brings up a good point," James said, stepping out of the shadows. Brock and Misty started to giggle and Ash stared at James in disbelief.  
  
"James?" Jesse said as she came out of the shadows and leaned against his back. "You're still in your bathrobe." James looked down and blushed. Sure enough, there was his blue bathrobe with the embroidered "J" below the shoulder.  
  
"And what about you?" he said sarcastically, trying to take the attention off of him.  
  
"Heh heh heh...ja..." Jesse started, tightening the belt to her red robe. "...well at least I'm wearing underwear." James' eyes bugged out and his face suddenly matched the color of her robe.  
  
"Come on guys," Ash complained. "We have a crisis on our hands. We've already dawdled for to long and whoever came in that balloon has gotten away. Let's stop being ridiculous and...and malapropism! Let the...onomatopoeia do it's own...jargon and...alliteration will...ah...anapest in no time." Ash nodded and trodded off to examine the balloon. Everyone else stood in shock.   
  
He had never used so many big words in his entire life.   
  
While they snickered and giggled, Misty went over to help him search through the balloon.  
  
"Ash," she started slowly as if unsure where to go from there. "Do you have any idea what you said back there?"  
  
"I have no clue, but didn't it make me sound smart...I mean all those big words..." he beamed. Misty just shook her head and sighed.  
  
"Brock - oi! Guys...get over here," she yelled, deliberately changing the subject. "Come on, we could use the help."  
  
****  
  
"Awwwww! That stings you bastard!"  
  
"Cassidy, how else is it going to heal. You've gotta go through the bad to get to the good. Now hush and let me clean it out," Butch soothed. He continued to clean her cuts causing her to grit her teeth and looked away.  
  
"Now you're okay, for the time being. Let me help you up."   
  
Cassidy shrugged and put her hands in his. He helped her up slowly so he wouldn't put more pressure on her ankle. He thought about how it all happened.   
  
How her ankle got caught in the rope as she threw the smoke bomb to the ground. How he warned her to watch out, and how she scoffed at him, then how she jumped over the side of the basket anyway. How she ended up twisting her ankle and how she landed face first in that thorn bush.   
And then there was their trip into the woods!   
  
How she insisted that her ankle was fine and that she knew exactly where she was going. How they ended up here: under a big oak tree - right where she landed after she fell down the hill. He couldn't help but smile as he thought about it.  
  
"What are you smirking at?" Cassidy asked, limping over to him with great difficulty. He just shook his head and started to paw through her pack, before he realized that she had what he was looking for.  
  
"Is everything ready?"  
  
"It should be. If it isn't I'll kick them so hard -"   
  
"Before or after you fix your ankle?"   
  
Cassidy crossed her arms, stuck out her tongue and quickly turned her back on him. Butch smiled and took the field tracer from her.  
  
"Yep, everything's ready. Cassidy? Cass? Konnichi wa?!" Butch yelled as he looked around for her.   
  
She was nowhere in sight.   
  
He moved the field tracer to the other hand, picked up her pack and left to find her.  
  
"She can't be far," Butch said, thinking out loud. Cassidy growled when she heard this.   
  
He was always joking about her not being as good as he was. She hated the fact that he was a natural. She had worked so hard for so long and there he was, three years her junior, outranking her within five days. It had taken her five years to get that rank and he got it in five days. He was really getting on her nerves. She grinned as she thought about her control over him.   
  
Unfortunately, her thoughts were interrupted when he found her hiding place. She jumped when Butch touched her shoulder.  
  
"Come on. I'll carry you back to the balloon. We've gotta find it before anyone finds us," Butch said, putting the pack on the ground. Cassidy hopped on his back with much difficulty. He handed her the pack and the field tracer. She slung the pack over her shoulder and he started up the hill with a grunt.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	7. Of All Which Is Evil... part VII

****  
  
"Now that's better," Jesse said, smoothing out her white skirt and pulled her black thigh high boots up a little higher. James was beaming as he fixed his gloves.   
  
Misty was in the balloons basket searching for clues. Brock was fanning Ash and Ash was - well - Ash was on the ground trying to catch his breath. He had run all the way back to the dorms and had gotten Jesse and James' old Team Rocket uniforms, which had been patched up nicely.  
  
James turned to Jesse with pleading eyes and was about to say something when she clamped her hand over his mouth.  
  
"Iie," was all she said.  
  
"Kudasai? Ai shiteru zutto," James whined through her hand. Jesse sighed and dropped it from his mouth. James jumped for joy.   
  
"Ready when you are," James cooed. Jesse stared at him for a minute, then she slapped him a couple times.  
  
"Now I feel better," she said, clenching her fist.   
  
"Ready?" she asked, looking at James. He nodded his head repeatedly.  
  
"Iku zo!"  
  
****  
  
"Are we there yet?" Cassidy whined in Butch's ear for what seemed like the billionth time.  
  
"We've gotta be somewhere close by now," he grunted back at her and almost tripped over a rock.  
  
"OI! Watch where you're going!"  
  
"Do you want to walk back to the balloon yourself?"  
  
- prepare for trouble -  
  
"Did you hear something?"  
  
"No, I didn't Cassi-"  
  
- and make it double -  
  
"There it is again!"  
  
"I think the pain killers have gotten to your brain - brain killers, heh heh, that's cute..."  
  
-to protect the world from devastation -  
  
"What was that," Butch asked, dropping Cassidy on the ground.  
  
- to unite all people within our nation -  
  
"Those are the voices I was talking about," Cassidy said, wobbling a bit as she stood and rubbed her sore tush. "I don't know who they belong to, but they sound vaguely familiar."  
  
- to denounce the evils of truth and love -  
  
"It's coming from over there," Butch said, pointing toward a big tree well hidden by monstrous bushes. "Come on, be careful."  
  
- to extend our reach to the stars above -  
  
"Over here, schhh, be quiet," Butch whispered. "Behind these bushes is a clearing and that's where the voices are coming from."  
  
"How do you know this?"  
  
"Look."  
  
- Jesse -  
  
"Oh my...," Cassidy said, letting go of the branch she was holding and it smacked Butch in the face.   
  
- James -  
  
"What are they doing here?"  
  
"Keep your voice down."  
  
- Team Rocket Blasts off at the speed of light -  
  
"HA! They're no longer a part of Team Rocket," Cassidy sneered, hatred gleamed in her eyes.  
  
- surrender now or prepare to fight -  
  
- Jess, it just doesn't feel right without Meowth -  
  
- stop whining -  
  
Butch felt sorry for them. He never really hated them, he was following orders from Cassidy. He thought Cassidy was the love of his life, but when the great battle was over he learned the truth: Boss had put some sort of chip in her brain. It gave her the power to control other people's minds and make them her slaves. Unfortunately, Cassidy absorbed some of Boss's power during the operation, and she now thought she was the kat's meow. His power possessed all that was evil and claimed Cassidy as it's slave of darkness.   
  
That *and* he loved with Jesse. He was happy for James, and wished that maybe someday Cassidy would change and become the girl he was in love with in the beginning, before any of the operations took place.   
  
"Come on," he whispered. "Let's go around through the brush to the back of the balloon." He picked up Cassidy and headed off toward the balloon. Sorrow filled him from head to toe as he thought of what she would make him do to Jesse and James. He was completely helpless every time she took over his mind.  
  
****  
  
"Let's go find whoever came in this balloon," Misty said, walking toward the woods.   
  
Ash was *still* on the ground doing nothing.   
  
Brock was just standing there contemplating how to tell Misty that he loved her.   
  
Jesse was comforting a crying James as he murmured something about it not being fair and Meowth.   
  
Misty stopped, turned around and ran to the balloon. She hopped inside the basket and started throwing things out. Brock was the only one who seemed to notice.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked, leaning over the edge of the basket.  
  
"Help me search," Misty said, continuing to throw things out of her way. Brock shrugged and jumped in. Before he could ask what they were searching for, Misty found it. She threw something small and black at him.  
  
"What's this," he asked examining it.  
  
"Just put it on," she said and took off her shirt. Her shorts soon followed. Brock sat there and watched her change. His eyes grew *even* bigger when she said she couldn't wear a bra with the top.   
Needless to say, when she asked for help - he helped her. The finished picture was beautiful.   
  
It looked like a new version of Team Rockets uniform. The whole uniform was black. She wore a black halter-top with a plunging neckline that was cropped a little below her chest. She wore tight black boy cut shorts that barely covered her bum. She also had black boots that went a little above the knee and laced all the way up. The uniform came with a little masquerade mask.   
  
To add a finishing touch there was a little red "R" on her top above her right breast.  
  
"Hurry up and get dressed," Misty said as she bent over to fix her boots.  
  
"All right," he choked. As he put on his uniform Misty's expression changed much like Brock's did. He was wearing a tight, black shirt that had cropped sleeves with a mandarin type of collar that split open down his chest. He had black boots and black cords on. His uniform also came with a black eye mask. His little red "R" was below his right shoulder, the same place as Misty's.   
  
Both uniforms came with a set of black gloves, although Brock's only went to the elbow.   
  
They both stood in the basket looking at each other. Longing to reach out and touch the other and not care about the bad guys. Longing to tell each other how deep their love truly was. To whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears.   
  
Misty closed her eyes and imagined the scene.  
  
"We better round up the others and go," she sighed, not wanting to ruin the moment but having no other choice.   
  
"Yeah," he breathed and got out of the basket. He turned back and helped her out. He went over and got Jesse and James pumped again.   
Misty went and kicked Ash's feet a couple times before he finally said he was ready and got up.  
  
"Here's the plan," Misty said, but before she had a chance to explain - another smoke bomb went off.  
  
****   
  
tbc... 


	8. Of All Which Is Evil... part VII

****   
  
"Uhhh…what happened?" Misty groaned, rubbing her head. She looked around. Jesse, James and Ash were nowhere in sight.  
  
"Brock? Oh no…BROCK! Wake up!" she cried when she saw him lying behind her. After he didn't move for a couple of minutes she let her tears free and buried her face in his chest.   
  
"Misty...daijobu desu ka?"  
  
"Huh?"   
  
Misty raised her face, only to be greeted by a very alive Brock. She was overjoyed. She hugged him and planted a kiss on his lips. He was caught off guard by this last act, but he just closed his eyes and kissed her back. They stopped and looked at one another. He leaned up and kissed the tip off her nose. She closed her eyes and sighed. It was his turn to 'kiss' her now...and that's exactly what he did. Her hands were around his neck as she lay on top of him. His hands were 'gentlemanly' placed around her waist.   
  
And that's they way they stayed.  
  
****  
  
Butch smiled as he peeked through the bushes again. He loved seeing people show their affection toward each other. Just seconds earlier she was crying on his chest. Now they were kissing like it was their last five minutes on the planet. He headed back to the cave where everything was set up with a smile on his face. It disappeared when he entered the room and saw Cassidy threatening their prisoners.   
  
Jesse and James were still knocked out but that other kid they picked up was rambling on and on about nothing.   
  
"There. All of `em tied up and in their respective boxes. There's no way any of them can escape." Cassidy said, just finishing tying up James. "Did you get the uniforms?"  
  
"Sure ...um, the uniforms," Butch said, trying to come up with an excuse. He knew those two kids were wearing them.   
  
"Are you sure we packed them?"  
  
"Of course we did. Remember, it's all part of the plan," she sneered.  
  
"Iie, I don't remember."  
  
"Mou...yosh," she sighed and flopped down on the bench. "Boss sent us here to find Jesse and James and kil-"  
  
"Should he be listening to this?" Butch said, pointing to Ash.   
  
"Remember the boxes they're in are sound proof," said as she got up and knocked on the top of the plastic cell. "He can't hear what we're saying unless we talk through the intercom."  
  
Butch just stared at her blankly.  
  
"Anyway," she said, sitting on the bench again. "We're supposed to kill those two. He didn't say how so I came up with a plan, which I'll tell you now. I was planning on putting them in the new T.R. uniforms and use the power Boss so graciously gave me to brainwash them. Then we'd train them and make them the most ruthless T.R. members ever. So ruthless that they go on a killing spree, killing everyone in sight and eventually killing each other." She lay down on her back and put her head in his lap, much to his disgust.  
  
"Ja, I ran this past Boss, when you were loading the balloon, and he just nodded and handed me the new recruits uniforms. I took that as affirmative and went on my way," she finished, examining her nails.  
  
"I guess since you couldn't find the uniforms and they're wearing their old ones, then we won't change their appearance," she said getting up and walking over to where their boxes were.   
  
"What are you saying?" he said slowly as he stood, not fully understand the whole point of her plan.  
  
"Instead we'll - uhh, I'll let them keep the fighting part of their memory and one word will fill the rest of the space," she said maliciously. Her eyes glowed like blue fire and her blond pigtails bounced when she laughed like her creation was alive.  
  
"What word is that?"   
  
Revenge was the last thing he heard before his brown eyes went blank and he became her slave.  
  
****  
  
They had decided to start their trek into the woods from behind the balloon. That was where the second smoke bomb had come from. They didn't realize how close they were to finding their friends. Their own death was even closer, so close in fact that Shinigami's violet eyes watched their every move with amusement as he let rounds of silent, maniacal laughter float through the breeze that danced with his chestnut braid.   
  
"Why are we in these again?" Brock asked, adjusting his mask.  
  
"We needed to change so that they wouldn't recognize our clothes," Misty answered.  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"Well, we need to find their base and who knows how many of them there might be. I just thought it was a good idea to blend in a little more. That and I just feel so damn sexy . . ." Misty boasted.   
  
"Did you hear that," she whispered, squatting behind a bush. Brock squatted behind a boulder a little bit away.  
  
"It must be coming from that cave over there," she whispered. Brock signaled for her to be quiet as a second scream filled the forest. A third scream echoed from the cave soon after.  
  
/How many people are in there? Three screams. Each scream different than the one before/ she thought and decided to investigate.  
  
Brock was thinking of a strategy when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and saw Misty sneaking over to the cave entrance...and a man with aqua hair and lifeless brown eyes following close behind her. Brock stood up and got in attack position, in case Misty had any problems.   
  
He was distracted when he saw a sparkle of red and a dash of blue in the shadows next to him. He dismissed it and concentrated on making sure that Misty got to the cave without any problems. An explosion of white filled his eyes and he sunk to the ground.   
  
"Uhhhnn..."   
  
"Poor boy, and he looked so good in that uniform," she said, her comatose blue eyes sparkling with pure evil. He knelt next to the unconscious youth to make sure he was out.  
  
"What should we do with him," he said, standing and running his fingers through his blue hair that had fallen over his vile green eyes.  
  
"I say we tie him to that tree over there and if Butch finds him then-"   
  
She stopped and made a cutting motion in front of her neck.  
  
"I love it when you're unnecessarily cruel," he said, pushing her red hair behind her shoulders. He started to kiss her neck when something sharp stabbed his side.   
  
Life flashed in his eyes - it wasn't very strong but it was there. He was no longer under Cassidy's control.  
  
"Why?" he asked, slowly falling to his knees. He looked up and saw Jesse holding a bloody knife, smirking at him. He tried to read her eyes but all they showed was the same cruelty he had mentioned before.   
He then knew she was not in control of herself.   
  
/I'll be all right. That is, if I don't bleed to death/ he thought and felt himself grow dizzy from loss of blood. Jesse knelt beside him, still smirking. She took him by the shoulders and carefully placed him on the cool earth.  
  
"Hush now. Save your energy. Make sure you die before I come back," she told him, bringing some emotion into her voice. "Cause if you're not dead then by then - I'll kill you...koibito." With that she got up and tied Brock to the tree, leaving him with a few show-and-tell cuts of his own. She strategically placed the knife just far enough that Brock wouldn't be able to reach it when he came to. She double checked everything and left for the cave.   
  
As soon as she was out of sight, James painfully pulled himself over to the knife. With all his strength he squirmed over to Brock and cut the ropes that held him, then he lay there and stared up at the night sky.  
  
"Giovanni, you will rue the day that you put that chip in Cassidy. I, James Roquet, will personally make sure that you regret ever forcing your people to agree to such horrors. Tonight your creation will die."   
He closed one eye and he winced at the unbearable pain that passed in waves up his side.  
  
"You fool. Don't you know by now that Giovanni doesn't posses the power to control all of you peons without going crazy? He couldn't hold a match to me, so I crushed him. Crushed by his creation. If you thought Cassidy was bad ...you better watch out boy, or I'll crush you too."  
  
An evil cackle filled the air after the unseen girl finished her speech and James closed his eyes.   
  
/Whoever she is, she'll pay dearly for doing this to my only friends/ he silently promised. He remembered something from Pokemon Health and Medicine class.   
  
/Some old myth about focusing your energy. K'so! Why can't I remember...chotto matte. 'If you focus all your energy on something you get a sort of energy beam. You also glow a special color. Each color has a Greek deity as it's protector and different colors mean different things.' What the Hell does that have to do with Pokemon?/ He shrugged as he mentally cursed himself and tried to focus his energy into saving his friends, only half believing in the myth. With his eyes closed he couldn't see that he had started to glow.   
  
"Whoa," he breathed when he opened his eyes and saw that the myth was true. "Blue. Let's see. My guardian is Poseidon, so I have water-based powers. Cool. Ahhhhh!" He curled himself in a ball and cried out in pain. He closed his eyes and a tear ran down his cheek as he focused all his mental powers into healing himself. He knew it would take a while without the help of Jesse's power, because she completed him. That much he knew. He focused on healing...and tuning out the screams.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	9. Of All Which Is Evil... part IX

****  
  
Cassidy was very pleased with herself.   
  
James was down and Jesse would join him soon. If only she could freeze this moment in time. She had Ash, or at least that's what he said his name was, strapped to the wall where Jesse continued to torture him with her trusty kat-o-nine-tails.   
  
Butch hadn't come back yet from tracking down the other two kids that were left, but she could care less.  
  
"Meijin-"  
  
"I am not a man! Call me Megami, iie - that sounds funny. Hmmm…"  
  
"Cassidy-sama…"  
  
"Now that I like!"  
  
"I have something you might like."   
  
Cassidy finally turned around and looked at Butch and his catch. Both were bleeding and their clothes were ripped and torn. Even though she liked the thought of this bleeding child on the floor at her feet she frowned.  
  
"Where's the boy?"  
  
"Jesse finished him when James went down, Cassidy-sama," Butch said, pointing to the redhead who whipped Ash one last time before coming over and bowing to their Queen.  
  
"You killed the boy?"  
  
"Iie, Cassidy-sama," she said, staring at the floor.  
  
"Then what did you do?"  
  
"I knocked him out cold and tied him to a tree, Cassidy-sama."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"No, Cassidy-sama. I cut him. I cut him so bad that if he was able to untie himself, he wouldn't have any strength to attack. And that's torture. Watching your friends die when you can't do anything to help them," she said in Misty's ear. Misty was silently crying.   
  
/I swear I'll get back at you, Cassidy, for killing Brock. *My* Brock. *My* first love. You will *die* for killing love/ she wordlessly sobbed.  
  
****  
  
"Itai…"   
  
Brock sat up and rubbed his head. He stood up and immediately felt the cuts all over his body. He looked around and practically jumped out of his skin when he saw someone lying in a thick puddle of blood. The brunette did a double take when he realized it was James.  
  
/Is he glowing?/ he thought and went over to examine the dying youth.   
"K'so, that's huge. Maybe if I apply some pressure I can stop the bleeding," Brock said, placing his hands over James' wound. He closed his eyes and prayed that James would be all right.   
  
Small silver specks gathered where Brock's hands met James' side. Soon the light was too bright and too strong. It was so powerful that it flung Brock off James and into a nearby tree.  
  
" Uhhhnn..."   
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
"Huh?"   
  
Brock opened his eyes and saw James squatting in front of him still glowing with blue light. "Yeah, daijobu. How's your side?"  
  
"Better than ever thanks to you. Silver, huh? Your guardian is Apollo. Your power is based on light and truth. Come on...we've got to find Cassidy and stop her," James said, helping Brock up.   
  
Brock had heard about the energy guardian theory in his dream class. He didn't need to look at himself to know that he was in fact glowing. He could feel his body lighten and power up. He knew that silver was the color of light and truth.   
  
He followed James around the outside of the cave. It was only when they started climbing the side of it cave when a question popped into his mind. He had to ask it.   
  
"Ne, James...how did you tell Jesse you loved her?"   
  
****  
  
"Oh my," Misty groaned as Butch undressed her. When he was done, he folded her clothes, put them on the table and stepped back to take in all her curves.   
  
Life came to his eyes and he blushed when he realized that he was staring at this beautiful girl wearing nothing but her boots, mask and raspberry thong. She wasn't even wearing a bra.   
  
Cassidy had given her to him as a reward for capturing her. He didn't even know her name. This wasn't him. He gave her back her clothes and took her chains off. He turned around and told her she was free to go when she was done dressing.  
  
"Why are you still here?" he asked when he turned to leave his chambers and she was still standing there.   
  
The life in his eyes flickered out and he grabbed her wrists making her yelp. He pushed her onto the bed and jumped on top of her. Her squeals just made the mood better. It was when she closed her eyes that sent him over the edge. Her started pulling at her already ripped clothes. He wanted her body. Her scent was making him delirious.   
  
He started kissing down her lithe form. When he got to her exposed breasts she opened her eyes and looked at him. She placed her hands behind his ears.  
  
"I knew you wanted it. Just relax," he said in between kisses. She closed her eyes again and concentrated on the Butch that let her free. Her hands started glowing an aqua color and Butch stopped. Soon her whole body had an aqua glow and she let go of him. She stood, still glowing and fixed her top. Her eyes went wide as she looked herself over.   
  
/Hmm. What was James talking about the other day? Greek deities? What is aqua? Oh! Aqua is the color of Artemis/ she mentally said and praised herself for being able to figured it out.   
  
"What the hell does that mean?" she asked the empty room, her smile falling. She sat next to Butch's unconscious body and thought about it. Thunder clapped its heavy hands together and made her jump.   
  
"That's it! Lightening is her power. Wait I thought Zeus used lightening?" she exclaimed. She sunk down to the floor again. All this thinking was making her head hurt. Butch stirred next to her and groaned. A light bulb went on in her brain and she stood up.   
  
/Lady Artemis, lend me your lightening arrows for strength/ she thought, looking over at the real Butch who now stood next to her. He had a green glow around him.   
  
/Let's see. Green is Atlas. Atlas has strength. With my arrows of electric purity and his strength...we can't lose/   
She mentally jumped for joy. He scanned the room before turning his gaze back to Misty.  
  
"Where's that bitch?"   
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	10. Of All Which Is Evil... part X

****  
  
"So, how does it feel to be a real man?" Jesse said, staring into his beautiful, dead eyes. She was still on top of him when Cassidy came into the room. Jesse got out from under the blanket and put on her cropped tank and grabbed her boots and gloves.   
  
"He's all yours, Cassidy-sama," she said, backing out of the room with an evil grin on her face. She walked into the main hall adjusting the top of her boots. She couldn't believe that this was all inside a cave. She looked out the cave's entrance.  
  
"Good," she thought out loud. "It's still night...I like the night." She snapped her maroon thong against her hip as she walked over to the table. She looked at Boss's plans.   
  
"Matte - this makes no sense...how come I was never informed of this?"  
  
"A: you're not a part of Team Rocket…" a voice echoed from nowhere. Jesse looked up and saw a rapidly growing swirl of purple smoke coming into existence above her.   
  
"…and B: Giovanni is an incompetent prick who thinks he knows everything but can't even control a single person with his mind. Did you get all of that, there'll be a quiz later," Taiteki said, slowly appearing on her floating cloud of purple smoke.   
  
"Who the hell do you think you are?"  
  
"I'm Taiteki. Conqueror of the mighty Aphrodite and controller of her purple passion. For all the wee ones out there...I'm the really bad, bad guy," she declared as she lay on her cloud and placed her hands behind her head.   
  
Jesse snorted and tossed her hair.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me. *You* are the almighty powerful one? Don't make me laugh," Jesse sneered. Taiteki sat there, eyebrow twitching, her hand itching to trace itself across Jesse's face.   
  
SLAP!   
  
"What the hell was that for?"  
  
"Obviously you're too caught up in yourself to notice that I am indeed far superior to you. I was twisted to rule with an iron fist. I'm the most sophisticated creation you'll ever live to see. And don't forget it!"  
  
"What are you talking about 'I was twisted to rule'. What's that supposed to mean?" Jesse complained, rubbing her face. Taiteki sighed, jumped off her cloud and landed 'gracefully' on the floor.   
  
"Giovanni created me," she started, picking herself up off the ground.   
/Some leader. How pathetic. She can't even land on her feet/ Jesse mentally sneered.   
  
"Giovanni had some of Misty's genes in his possession. He liked her. She's feisty, powerful...seductive. You get the picture. He mixed his own power with the blood of Misty and created me. He put a little too much energy into making me though, and I absorbed more than he thought. One day I rebelled. I took control of Cassidy and slowly made my way through the ranks. Unfortunately, my only downfall is Misty. She dies, I die. If you cut her arm open then my arm will burst open and start bleeding. When I'm concentrating on something, she gets the side effects and vice versa. So, I couldn't possess her. Brock slipped between my fingers too..."  
  
"What's this have to with me?" Jesse asked. She wasn't sure what to think of Taiteki.   
  
/She's quite a character, that's for sure/ she thought. Meanwhile, Jesse's question had caught Taiteki off guard and she stumbled to find the right answer.  
  
"Ja...you looked - ah, ah...interested," she said uncertainly.  
  
"You call yourself a leader?! Look at you! You're what 14, 15? You can't possess any kind of power that can defeat me! You think you're all high and mighty because you're a monster. You were created on a cold metal table. Not by two loving people," Jesse yelled. Taiteki listened calmly to everything that was said as she floated up to her purple cloud.  
  
"All you do is hide behind that stupid cloud of yours. What kind of attack do you know?"  
  
"I already told you. I'm the conqueror of Aphrodi-"  
  
"Baka! Are you seriously stupid? Here. Take your best shot," Jesse said, holding her arms out. Taiteki remained cool, calm and collected.  
  
"Do your worst," Jesse growled.   
  
/Aphrodite's Dead Love/ Taiteki thought and Jesse's smirk disappeared instantly. She sunk to her knees and clawed at her heart.   
  
"I told you not to mess with me. Now you know...and knowing is half the battle..." Taiteki grinned as she slowly vanished. When the girl was gone, Jesse returned to her normal state.   
  
"What kind of trick was that? If that's her power...she must be the chosen leader," she murmured to herself. "Who's there?"   
  
She scanned the room, when a movement caught her eye.   
  
"What's that?"   
  
She looked over by the door.   
  
/Two glowing lights? Who are they? *What* are they?/ she thought, confusion echoing off the walls of her brain.   
  
"Iie. This can't be," she said, slowly getting up and backing away.   
"You're dead. I left you there to die...why are you here? What do you want from me?" she cried.   
  
James stood there in his blue hue. He was wearing the same white pants and black boots as before. He had lost his jacket on the way and was left with his black shirt and gloves. Brock was next to him, casting silver shadows wherever he stepped. He was still in the same black uniform from earlier, except he had lost the mask at some point. His shirt and pants were ripped in the same places she had cut him. There was even dried blood on them, but he didn't show signs of any kind of blade wound.  
  
"We've come for you," he said, stepping in line with James.  
  
"Iie...you're lying. This is just a trick...ne?" she said in a scared voice. She then grabbed her head again and collapsed.   
  
"Jesse - you are very powerful. Learn to use it. Take over Cassidy's reign and choose a king. I believe in you -" Taiteki's voice tore through Jesse's thoughts and strengthened the redhead's spirit.   
When she got up, her eyes seemed to emit blue flames. She was now far more powerful than Cassidy. With Taiteki's words of encouragement fresh in her mind, she felt like she was invincible. Her scared self had run away and her new self stepped forward.   
  
"You can't have me. I'm too fast. Too smart. Too sexy...you can't handle me."   
  
Then she disappeared with a burst of red flames.   
  
"What the hell was that?" Brock asked. James stood there until the small flames finally died.  
  
"She's found her guardian. Red is Athena's color. Red for blood, for death. We better find her before she destroys something or someone," James said quietly.   
  
He missed his Jesse. He didn't like having to be so serious. He liked goofing off and making stupid comments.   
  
Brock and James agreed to split up and search the cave. They could cover more ground that way. Brock left and took the tunnel to the right. James turned for one last glance around the room. He slowly spun around and headed down the left tunnel. A tear fell down his cheek and implanted itself in the ground. A small blue rose immediately grew from that spot.   
  
Taiteki appeared on the floor. She dawdled over to the hallway, pondering several things, but most importantly: Jesse.   
  
"So, she's finally found her true power. She'll come in handy as my second in command. I'll let Cassidy find out for herself that she's been demoted," she said to no one, amused with herself for bringing Jesse's true powers out of hiding.   
  
She glanced down the right hall at the silver specks that had lead a deadly end. She heard whimpering and went translucent.   
  
Jesse knelt by the tiny blue rose and cried.  
  
"What did you do to me? When you're near me I cry," she called to the flower as she palmed it. "I can't fight. All my anger gets flushed away and I become useless. What power do you hold that can do that to a person? Taiteki forgive me." Taiteki jumped when Jesse said that.   
  
/How can she see me!/ she thought, looking down through her hands.   
  
"Wherever you are - I hope you hear my cry," Jesse stood, still holding the flower. Taiteki sighed.   
  
"I have chosen my King. It is the boy, Ash. I made him a man. I felt his power coursing through me."   
  
Taiteki silently giggled, truly the naïve little girl and no the sophisticated ruler she had to be.   
  
"I want him to rule by my side," her voice trailed off when she noticed she was still holding the rose. "I will find you. You do something to me that no words can describe." She brought the rose up to her lips as she whispered those words.  
  
"I will destroy you. Crush you and your good-evil power," she continued to whisper, crushing the flower. It's petals floated down to the floor and blue blood trickled through her clenched fingers. "Good bye love. A real man awaits me somewhere within these halls." Jesse teleported with a burst of red flames.   
  
Taiteki became opaque again, wiped her eyes and blew her nose.   
  
"Mou...not a dry eye in the house," Taiteki said quietly.   
  
She was very proud of Jesse. She knew that James was Jesse's real love. Taiteki had known it the whole time. She also knew that Ash's powers were at the same level as Jesse's. Clearly they would make a better match.   
  
Taiteki peeked at the charred remains of the rose petals before she disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.   
  
****  
  
"You're quite a koibito...Ashy-boy," Cassidy said, laying on the bed and watching him put on a pair of black pants and a matching button up shirt, which he left open. He decided against putting shoes or socks on as he rolled the long sleeves up above his elbows.   
  
/I should probably get dressed. I hate clothes. They're so...restricting. How could Ashy boy wear something like that?/ she thought as she got out of bed and reached for her robe.   
  
"I think I'll just stay in this," she breathed, tightening the belt of her thick floor length robe. She looked around for her new koibito.   
  
Ash was nowhere.   
  
"Oh well, his loss," she sighed. "If nobody needs me...I'll just take a nap." As she lay down again, Ash came out of hiding. He placed his fingertips gently on her body. He could feel her power soak into him.  
  
"That's my girl," he whispered, gathering all her energy. His fists glowed orange and his eyes flashed with malice.   
  
/I call on thee Hestia. I control your golden rays of death and rebirth now/ he mentally called to Cassidy's protector.  
  
"Now, to make sure everyone is in their place," he growled, entering the main room. He could see that it was still dark outside, but it made no difference to him. He didn't need light to see. He could sense fear. And everyone feared the most powerful person of them all.   
And that was he.   
  
He stepped into the shadows when he heard something. Jesse appeared in a burst of red flames.  
  
/So, it's her power that rivals mine. She's so dangerous. I'll have to destroy her/ he growled in his mind. Up for a little competition he stepped out of the darkness and walked up to her. He got right behind her and was about to absorb her energy when she moved.  
  
"Nice try Ash," she sneered. "But you'll have to do better than that. I know that you are the most powerful of us all. Even more so than Giovanni. It kills you that my power is right up there with yours, though. That I can, at any moment, take control and override your strength. Do you know why I'm capable of doing that?" she said, walking rings around him. He stood there and said nothing.  
  
"Because I was, at some point before this, truly evil. You have never had an evil thought in your mind. Until *I* corrupted *you*," she said with a slight smile. "And might I add...I did a damn fine job of it." Ash smiled at that. If he had to agree to anything - it would be exactly that.   
  
She was an excellent koibito. Much better than Cassidy ever was or ever will be.   
  
"So what do you say?" she purred in his ear, placing her hands on his back. "Shall we go for another round." As she nibbled on his ear she focused on his power and did a quick drain on him.   
  
She jumped out of his reach as he gritted his teeth and fell to his knees.  
  
"Oh how nice of you," she sneered. "Kneeling for your Queen. I wouldn't expect anything else from you."  
  
"Why are you waiting? Take my power, drain me now. Get it over and done with," he grunted.  
  
"Tsk, tsk...Now why would I drain my own King's power? Your guardian is Helios, the sun god. You, my dear, control fire. Fire and war are lovers from long ago."  
  
She stopped in front of him.   
  
"Stand."   
  
He stood. They put their hands together and both focused on their combined energy.   
  
"Oh…my..." she moaned as they started to glow a mixture of orange and red.   
  
Ash started to shake. He could feel her power coursing through his veins. She was perfect to rule by his side. If he took all her energy and left her powerless, he would explode. She was far more powerful then he ever was. Then he ever would be. Even with their combined power, he was no match for her.   
  
He opened his eyes and looked at her beautiful, young face. And saw the red flames dance through the evil blue pools of her eyes.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	11. Of All Which Is Evil... part XI

****  
  
A scream filled the chamber and Cassidy sat straight up. She looked around and realized it was her own scream that had awakened her. She felt helpless for some reason. She got up and pulled her robe tighter around her.   
  
She suddenly felt like her head was going to explode. She grabbed the edge of the table for support. As quickly it had come, it was gone. She knew exactly what it was. She took one of the ancient spears down from the wall and opened the chamber door quietly.   
  
Slithered along the wall in the shadows of the main room, she never took her eyes off them. They were combining powers. Cassidy could make out the red and orange but there was another hue in there.   
  
It was gold.   
  
"That bastard stole my power," she whispered. She was enraged. She summoned everything that he left behind. It wasn't much, but it would help. As soon as they unlocked their hands she would charge.   
  
/Here goes nothing. I hope you die bastard!/ she screamed in her mind.  
  
She didn't make a noise and he didn't sense her until too late. He dropped to the floor with a great echoing thud. Everything was in slow-mo for him.   
  
He couldn't hear anything except for his own heartbeat. He couldn't hear Jesse's scream of horror. He couldn't hear Cassidy's maniacal laughter as she lay on the floor next to him. Her powers were low and she knew she would die too. She had gotten her revenge.   
  
Soon she stopped laughing and just lay there with her eyes closed barely breathing. Ash looked up into Jesse's crying eyes. He wanted to tell her to take his power, but he couldn't say a thing. She knelt beside him and put her hands over his temples. She closed her eyes and choked back a sob. She took his energy as tears streamed down her face. When she was done she leaned over and cried into his chest.  
  
****  
  
Misty and Butch walked into the main room, seen as two glowing figures of green and aqua. They heard crying and went toward Jesse. They stopped a few steps from the door. Butch looked away and Misty gasped.   
Ash was on the floor with his eyes shut, barely breathing. There was a gaping hole in his chest that continued to bleed everywhere.   
  
Cassidy lay next to him in a pool of his blood, barely breathing as well - still clutching the murder weapon.   
  
Jesse was crying on Ash's chest and hadn't heard them come in. Someone was floating above the scene.   
  
/She looks awfully familiar/ Misty thought and strained to get a better look at the girl. She couldn't figure out who she was or why she looked familiar.   
  
"What's she doing?" escaped her lips before her mind could hold it back.   
  
"Freeze," Taiteki breathed as an iridescent bubble covered the blood-covered trio. She started chanting something that Butch and Misty couldn't make out. Butch silently sneezed, but Taiteki heard it. She whipped her head around toward the two and smirked. She clapped her hands and disappeared.   
  
The bubble was broken.  
  
"What the hell was that?"   
  
"I don't know, but be careful," Misty warned Butch. "I'll distract Jesse while you heal the other two. And watch out for that psycho on the cloud. She looked dangerous." Butch nodded and held back. Misty walked a little closer and prepared herself.  
  
"Oi!"   
  
Jesse looked up at her with hate in her eyes.  
  
"Why weren't you here to stop her!" she screamed and sent a beam of raw energy Misty's way. She easily dodged it and an aqua arrow crackled toward Jesse.   
  
"Let's be fair," Misty yelled. "Let's use weapons." She threw a long sword at Jesse who caught it at the hilt and smirked.  
  
"You don't stand a chance."   
  
As the two started their duel, Butch went over and placed one hand on each forehead. He focused his energy and, slowly, Cassidy and Ash started to glow with green light. A bright flash of white shot through the room and made Misty and Jesse stop and look.   
  
There stood Ash encased in orange and Cassidy covered with gold. Both were in their right mind.   
  
There was nothing they could do to help Misty, though. She had challenged Jesse and had to fight to the end. Soon both were bleeding pretty badly, but that didn't stop them.   
  
There was an unspoken agreement between the two. If Misty won, then Jesse was her prize. If Jesse won, then she would take Misty's powers and destroy her body. Misty had to win.   
  
"Ahhhhhhh!"  
  
"I've won. Face it - you're no match for me," Jesse sneered as she stood over Misty. She dared not to move because the tip of Jesse's sword was over her heart. Misty's weapon was too far away for her to reach it, so she tried talking with Jesse.   
  
Nothing worked.  
  
"We've made an agreement. You lost, now you will die."   
  
Misty screamed as the blade entered her skin.  
  
"STOP!" Taiteki screamed, holding a hand to her chest. Jesse pulled the tip of blade out and gawked at her. Taiteki walked over and took the sword from Jesse.   
  
"How dare you talk to me like that!"  
  
"All I said was stop," Taiteki stated and she stuck her tongue out at Jesse. She threw the sword up and blasted it with a beam of raw, purple energy.  
  
Jesse hated it when people were better than her. She looked around the room. Brock had joined the crude circle that had formed around her and Taiteki. Everyone glowed a different own color.   
  
/Apollo, Atlas, Artemis, Hestia, Helios, Aphrodite and my own dear Athena. Weren't there eight legendary powers? Who are we missing?/ Jesse thought as she did a quick inventory on who was here.   
  
Butch was helping Misty stand.   
  
Ash, Cassidy and Brock finished the circle. Three spaces were left open.   
  
One for Jesse.   
  
One for Taiteki.   
  
One for James.   
  
"All right Miss High and Mighty. Is this about the power that Giovanni gave you?" Jesse said. "Or is it because you were a lab experiment?"  
  
"I was chosen to lead. My power is superior to all of yours combined," Taiteki said, pointing to all of them. Jesse snorted and rolled her eyes.   
  
"Don't laugh! It's true. I could wipe you all out with one word that I don't even have to say. It's called a silent but very painful death, and *you* don't even know it's coming."  
  
"Pure torture," Jesse muttered, her eyes glazing over as she stared at nothing. She shook her head and smirked. She had an idea.   
  
"So what? If we're your people, then why would you want to kill us? Especially if there's, apparently, no way to kill you."  
  
"I would never harm my people. Misty holds the key to my soul," Taiteki said and hopped on her cloud. Jesse's smirk grew even bigger.   
/Just what I needed to know/ she thought spitefully, a plan already forming in her mind.   
  
"What...do you mean?" Misty barely got out as a surge of pain coursed through her body. Jesse looked back at Taiteki in time to see her suffer momentarily from the same pain.   
  
"Athena's Death Rain," Jesse whispered. Thousands of little red needles fell from the ceiling. It sliced and diced until everyone was bleeding and weak.   
  
Everyone, except for Taiteki. She had zipped out of the way of the attack.   
  
Jesse stood there looking at her work. She brushed her hands off and chuckled. Everyone was on the floor, dying.   
  
Very weak and low on energy, Taiteki glowed purple and focused the last of her power on healing her subjects. Jesse was not happy at all when everyone appeared in their own box of pure energy. Each box was suspended in the air and glowed with the person's hue. The boxes started to glow brighter and Jesse had to shield her eyes from the brightness.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Healing them."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because true love is present and I'm not going to kill that. Besides they're part of my...company," Taiteki sighed. She slowly lowered the boxes. Another flash of light filled the room. Left in its place were six warriors, all of them healthy and striped of the strain of having powers.   
  
They stood there in a circle with their eyes closed. They had not fully awakened yet. Taiteki was among them. She was healed from all evil and was now a real girl.   
  
Jesse couldn't stand this power that Taiteki possessed. It was too strong. She needed to be the strongest. Jesse raised her hand high above her head. Red energy formed an unrefined spear. In a fit of rage Jesse hurled it at Misty.   
  
Misty's eyes opened wide as it pierced her heart and kept going. The energy spear disappeared as she fell to her hands and knees. She stayed like that for a moment before she cringed and fell the rest of the way to the floor. She lay there while everyone else slowly woke.   
Jesse floated above her, cackling like a witch. She turned her redhead to glance over her shoulder and saw Taiteki suffering from the same wound on the floor.   
  
****  
  
"Uhhnnn…what happened?" Cassidy said, joining the group and rubbing her eyes. Misty tried to call out to them, but couldn't. A tear rolled down her cheek as she silently said her good-byes. She coughed up blood and laid her head down on the cold, sticky, red floor.   
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Someone coughed...it came from over there!"   
  
"IIEEEEEE!" Brock yelled as his eyes fell upon the fallen figure Ash pointed to. He ran over to Misty, but it was to late. He held her as she died in his arms.  
  
"If I can't have invincible power, then no one can," Jesse shrieked at the top of her lungs. James ran into the room.   
  
"I heard yelling, is everything oka-"   
  
He stopped when he saw Misty lying, dead, in a pool of blood. Jesse was floating above the rest. Everyone else had been healed and couldn't use their powers. They had to wait for her to come down to their level before they died trying to beat her.   
  
Jesse and James were the only ones left with any kind of power, but no one knew that James was right there. Jesse slowly sunk to the floor as she watched the helpless group. James quietly crept up behind her, grabbed her and spun her around. He kissed her deeply, truly full of love and passion.   
  
Butch smiled. He had only see one other couple kiss like that. His smile faded as he realized that one half of that couple was dead.   
James let Jesse up for air. Real tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. She was back. Her eyes smiled even more than her lips did. She looked around at everyone. She was so happy to see them that it shocked her when she saw Misty dead in a puddle of blood. She could tell Misty died a horrible death by the size of the hole in her chest.   
/The bigger the whole in your chest, the more gruesome the death. That's what I learned at Team Rocket Boot Camp/ she absently thought. She turned her head the other way, trying to get away from the horrid sight, and gasped when she saw Taiteki lying on the floor with the same exact wound Misty had.   
  
Brock was in shock and Cassidy held Ash as he wept. Jesse closed her eyes and her hands glowed. She was always the most powerful of them all. She just never knew it.   
  
She knelt in between Misty and Taiteki and placed a hand over both girls' hearts. The room instantly filled with bright white light.  
  
****  
  
tbc... 


	12. Of All Which Is Evil... part XII

****  
  
"What number did you get?"  
  
"Six, why? What song is it."  
  
"Cool. Oh, it's nothing. You'll find out later."  
  
"I just hope it's nothing lame. I want some kick ass dreams this time."  
  
"Please refrain from using that language in my class room, sir," the teacher lectured. "What song is it?" She showed the teacher the CD. The teacher sighed as she took off her glasses.   
  
"All right then. You know the assignment. I'll see you two on Monday at 4:30 sharp," the teacher called after them.   
  
They walked toward the new dorm building. They were one of the first to try out the new system.   
  
The incoming class was enormous, so the school decided to enhance the dorms. The school had built new dorm rooms that could hold up to eight people. The upper-class men got grabs at them first if they wanted them.   
  
As they got close to the door they heard music blasting. She unlocked the door and he closed it after they were inside. They went straight to their bedroom. They still had to share it. They changed and put their bags and uniforms away.   
  
Jesse and James were in the kitchen making dinner.   
  
Ash and Taiteki came out of the other bedroom and started to set the table as Butch and Cassidy fiddled with the radio. They all stopped what they were doing when they heard a loud thud.   
  
"Shimatta! That came from our room," Jesse said as she dropped the salad on the floor. They all rushed over to the bedroom and tried to squeeze through the door at the same time.   
  
"Brock, what's wrong?" Butch asked, looking at Misty on the floor. The answer was evident, so they left the room and continued with what they were doing. Brock got up from his kneeling position and put the black velvet box back in his pocket.   
  
"I'll try again after dinner. Let her sleep. She needs it," he mumbled and got up to eat.  
  
When Misty came to after dinner, Brock had returned to his previous position and had fallen asleep against the end of the bed, the box still in his hand. Misty smiled and put the ring on her finger.  
  
"Of course I will," she whispered, kissing him deeply.  
  
"Now that's a happy ending for ya," James sniffled. Jesse handed him a Kleenex as they sat on the edge of their bed.   
  
"Man, if only a guy like that would propose to me."  
  
SMACK   
  
"Itai…what was that for?"  
  
"A: You're already engaged to me, and B: you *are* a guy!"  
  
"Oh yeah."   
  
Brock had awaken and laughed with the rest of them. By now they knew the strength of true love. The kind of love that saves one from the purest evil.   
  
"As Butch and Cassidy would say," James said. "'We believe in love power. That's because we love power!'" They all laughed at James' impression of Butch.   
  
"Well, James and I are taking the other four to a club tonight. Do you guys want to come?" Jesse offered.  
  
"Nah," Misty replayed and snuggled closer to Brock on the bed. "I think we'll just stay here and enjoy the peace and quiet."  
  
"Yeah like it'll be real quiet," James snickered.  
  
"JAMES!" the other three yelled. Jesse dragged James out of the bedroom by his ear and said that they wouldn't be home till early in the morning. Ash and Butch came in to say goodnight to the couple.   
  
Ash was wiser and more mature now.   
  
Butch ran his fingers through his aqua hair as they left the room and the next shipment came in to say goodnight.   
  
Cassidy was now the girl Butch had fallen in love with at Team Rocket Boot Camp. The girl who giggled when he showed off for her. The sparkle had returned to her eye. She blew them kisses as she left the room.   
  
Taiteki sat on the edge of the bed and hugged Misty. They were so close now. So similar that it was scary sometimes. They looked different, but deep down inside they had the same pure heart. They even shared star shaped scars in the middle of their chests. It was a good deal.   
  
"Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite…too hard," Taiteki said as she closed the door behind her. Brock rolled his eyes and Misty giggled. Taiteki opened the door again. "That goes for you too Brock. Not too hard." She managed to get the door closed before the pillow he threw made contact.   
  
Misty got up and went into the bathroom.   
  
"Ahhh…peace and quiet at last," Brock said and stretched. He heard the water running, picked his book up and began to read again.  
  
"Why don't you put that down," Misty cooed from the bathroom doorway. Brock put in the bookmark and laid it on the nightstand. He glanced over at Misty and nearly fell out of bed. He had seen her in her underwear before, but that didn't do anything for her figure.   
  
Seeing her curvaceous body with a light film of aqua colored silk over it made him sooooo happy that she survived. He couldn't help letting his jaw drop as she crawled up his side. He remembered back to the earlier part of that awful day, when he took advantage of her in his mind. It was the hottest thing he had ever come up with, but this took the whole cake.   
  
He felt like a dork.   
  
He was sitting on top of the blankets in his boxers, socks and orange shirt. They weren't even the same socks. One was white with a gray toe and heel and went to his ankle. The other was army green with ducks all over it and went mid calf. Needless to say the shirt and socks were off in record time.   
  
He practically flipped his lid when she shimmied off the bed and out of her robe. He only thought it was fair, so he got under the covers and stripped himself. He invited her in. Into his arms forever and then some.   
  
But she was playing games with him. He got out of bed and Misty's eyes went wide. He picked her up as she giggled and placed her on the bed with care. He lay on top of her and kissed her intensely. He kissed her neck and beamed when he heard a soft sigh escape her lips. He reached over and turned out the lights.   
  
As the night dissolved in ecstasy, a cloud moved across the face of the moon as the moon itself seemed to blush.   
  
  
~owari~ 


End file.
